2025 Ashes Tour

[Mr. Shaman]

I found the source of the smell, there was someone from Castleford wearing a Souths jersey.

 

[undertaker]

The first 20 was good fun. At least the Poms had a bit of a crack

For me, it was the first 40. Crowd atmosphere was MUCH better than Wembley. Only a packed Old Trafford - such as the famous test from the 1990 Ashes series - could've competed with it. Fantastic stadium, excellent crowd attendance over 52k (which shows there's huge potential to draw large crowds for test matches if RL governing bodies are willing to make it a priority)

Unfortunately for this England side, rugby league is an 80 minute game; not 40. Just like last week, England hung in there in the first half, but after that, the cracks began to show and they simply couldn't compete in the second half. Once Australia went to a 14-4 lead, the crowd atmosphere completely disappeared from the stadium with the "Oh dear, here we go again!" mindset from the English fans.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Grant simply won't pass to Cleary. Cut the state bullshit out merkin

Cleary s not a real rep player and Grant knows it

 

[Chins]

Herbie needs to play 1 or 6 going forward

 

[Taking The Two]

Well, England have that first half 40 minutes to hold on to. They’ll have that and that time Peacock had a fight with Mason.

Australia, despite having great individuals in their team, are a poor team when they combine as a 17. England just don’t have the spine, creativity or engine to beat these.

 

[Chins]

Well, England have that first half 40 minutes to hold on to. They’ll have that and that time Peacock had a fight with Mason.

Australia, despite having great individuals in their team, are a poor team when they combine as a 17. England just don’t have the spine, creativity or engine to beat these.

Was a bit of fun at the start to watch England fire up but that game was ref'd like slop from the 70s. The 5m rule was back baby

 

[undertaker]

What an advertisement for international rugby league this is.
One try from an obstruction and another from an error.

ROFL!

Joe Montana would be proud of that two metre forward pass leading up to the 2nd try.

 

[undertaker]

Was a bit of fun at the start to watch England fire up but that game was ref'd like slop from the 70s. The 5m rule was back baby

Blame the ground curator for not painting the 10m intervals properly

 

[undertaker]

Fox ended that pretty promptly lmao.
Couldn't be bothered with post game.

When a die-hard international RL fanatic like Andrew Voss couldn't be bothered, you know there's problems!

 

[jolly boys outing]

1st&2nd amazing test crowds deserved far more.

 

[adamkungl]

Better effort by England but need to sort the attack. 1 try scored in the last three games against Australia

Really did everything right except get over the line. The intensity was there, the defence was there, Couple of lapses but holding an Australian team to 2 tries is close to as good as it gets.

The forwards got their momentum and the pressure and repeat sets were there and they were playing against 12 twice.

But you can't win games if you can't score. They went too sideways too early. Not enough angles or options. Kangaroos scramble is far too good to crack from shifting side to side. I don't know where they go from here. Feels like there is enough attacking talent in the side but the way Wane and Williams run the red zone attack has not paid dividends in 2 games despite opportunities. They need an NRL elite attack coach. Or they move on from their coach and halfback but who is better?

Shame, a decider would have been nice. Still don't get the negativity, rugby league has pulled 100k fans in England in 2 weeks. Job done. Let's do it again in a few years.

 

[Gobsmacked]

Really did everything right except get over the line. The intensity was there, the defence was there, Couple of lapses but holding an Australian team to 2 tries is close to as good as it gets.

The forwards got their momentum and the pressure and repeat sets were there and they were playing against 12 twice.

But you can't win games if you can't score. They went too sideways too early. Not enough angles or options. Kangaroos scramble is far too good to crack from shifting side to side. I don't know where they go from here. Feels like there is enough attacking talent in the side but the way Wane and Williams run the red zone attack has not paid dividends in 2 games despite opportunities. They need an NRL elite attack coach. Or they move on from their coach and halfback but who is better?

Shame, a decider would have been nice. Still don't get the negativity, rugby league has pulled 100k fans in England in 2 weeks. Job done. Let's do it again in a few years.

Reece Walsh sent for 10.. not one kick though, not even on the 5th... England need at least one person with half a brain.
The attack like you said was absolute rubbish, no shape, no lead run options, just passing side to side and they did that so telegraphed that the defense had more defenders than attackers by the end of the movement.

The English game needs a revamp from the top down. Australian coaches and Australian referees, Heck, Australian administrators.

Listening to that video ref made me realize that the game in England is in the hands of very low IQ individuals.
Needs a massive clean out.

 

[Canard]

Official crowd: 52,106 @ Everton Stadium

That's an awesome crowd!

 

[Canard]

Reece Walsh sent for 10.. not one kick though, not even on the 5th... England need at least one person with half a brain.
The attack like you said was absolute rubbish, no shape, no lead run options, just passing side to side and they did that so telegraphed that the defense had more defenders than attackers by the end of the movement.

The English game needs a revamp from the top down. Australian coaches and Australian referees, Heck, Australian administrators.

Listening to that video ref made me realize that the game in England is in the hands of very low IQ individuals.
Needs a massive clean out.

You are massively under rating the Australian defence, which is so well organised and professional.

If you "clean out" Rugby League in England you are left with nothing.

This is essentially Amatuers v Pros and the money in our game is now an insurmountable gulf.

 

[mozza91]

f**k fell asleep just before kick off and slept through the game. Worth watching the replay?

 

[adamkungl]

Reece Walsh sent for 10.. not one kick though, not even on the 5th... England need at least one person with half a brain.
The attack like you said was absolute rubbish, no shape, no lead run options, just passing side to side and they did that so telegraphed that the defense had more defenders than attackers by the end of the movement.

The English game needs a revamp from the top down. Australian coaches and Australian referees, Heck, Australian administrators.

Listening to that video ref made me realize that the game in England is in the hands of very low IQ individuals.
Needs a massive clean out.

That 10 mins period was as bad as I've seen for footy iq. Absolutely squandered.

 

[adamkungl]

You are massively under rating the Australian defence, which is so well organised and professional.

If you "clean out" Rugby League in England you are left with nothing.

This is essentially Amatuers v Pros and the money in our game is now an insurmountable gulf.

Obviously it's well known that Aus has the greater pick of athletes due to popularity and money of the NRL. But even so we still see NZ and even Tonga jag the occasional upset despite the disadvantage.

England's problem runs deeper. Here we had a game that England won on every stat except the scoreboard. If NZ gets ahead on the stat sheet they win comfortably. England never looked like winning even when they were parked in the Australian 20m.

England is tactically still far behind the NRL. They get away with it in Super league because you don't need to be any better to win the comp. It's a harder problem to diagnose but maybe it doesn't need a billion dollar broadcast deal to fix.

 

[Black Panther]

f**k fell asleep just before kick off and slept through the game. Worth watching the replay?

Not at all. Unless you like Qld players passing to QLD players only.

 

[yobbo84]

If Atkins was able to keep those teams 10m apart we may have actually seen a game of football

That was a mess and England have no idea how to structure a backline movement

 

[Gobsmacked]

You are massively under rating the Australian defence, which is so well organised and professional.

If you "clean out" Rugby League in England you are left with nothing.

This is essentially Amatuers v Pros and the money in our game is now an insurmountable gulf.

The Australian defense was great but there's a massive amount of that was allowed to be as good as it was!
England didn't work hard to get any speed in the play the balls, instead played for penalties and rightly call "milking " . If they actually just focus on playing the ball quickly, offer some good shape, lead runs. There's no inside pressure from England, so Australia can just slide without any risk.
When was a defender even forced into a decision?
These are fundamental in the NRL

We can't give defense credit that was never tested .

I would probably give the English defense more credit.